Printable Schedule for Page-to Stage-Festival Schedule This Weekend and Monday-8/30-9/1/14 at The Kennedy Center

Margherita Sarfatti and Benito Mussolini, former lovers, meet after a three-year separation. Il Duce suddenly appears at her door as she attempts to leave the country. What does he want? What does she want? The play takes place during a three-day encounter in 1939. A number of bizarre incidents follow. She is well aware of what he wants– the 1,300 letters he has sent her during their 25-year affair. He knows she wants out of the country. And he does play with her mind….

How can one say “I don’t want to make the same mistakes as my mother or father,” yet do the very same things–or worse? How can we raise up the next generation and prevent them from following in our footsteps and experiencing the destructive aftermath? Time Will Tell…Stage II is the sequel of a mother’s memoir. At 20- something years old, a few decisions suddenly change the courses of life and destiny.

Recommended for mature audiences.

When his amateur sculpture of the 10 Commandments is ordered to be removed from public property, a fundamentalist Christian turns to Jewish mysticism to continue his fight against the “War on Christianity.” The otherworldly golem he creates destroys the tranquility of two small Wyoming towns and his own marriage–by unearthing a family tragedy better left buried.

Recommended for mature audiences. Explicit language and themes.

The company tells the story of Ernest Hogan, the “father of ragtime” and the first African American to perform on Broadway. Beloved by his fans and wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, Hogan was also an infamous writer of “coon songs” that many considered offensive to his own race. The Unbleached American imagines the relationship between Ernest and the woman sent to care for him at the end of his life.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Megha believes her heart is broken and is in desperate need of a new one. She is full of hope when she comes across a small clinic in town that claims to restore her heart to brand new. But little does she know there are several others in the clinic’s waiting room seeking the very same thing. What ensues is a journey into the many facets of the human heart to see what makes it ticks as well as triumph.

Recommended for Mature Audiences.

The company presents a World War I military drama. 

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

This engrossing play is a classic presentation of friendship and betrayal set against the backdrop of 1920s Dublin in the aftermath of the Irish Civil War. Gypo Nolan, an ex-policeman and member of the Revolutionary Organization, turns his comrade-in-arms, Frankie McPhillpi, in to the police for a murder committed during a farm laborers’ strike. His act of conscience makes him a traitor to his revolutionary comrades, as Dan Gallagher, a commandant of the Revolutionary Organization, swears he will find and kill “the informer.”

Recommended for mature audiences/Explicit Language.

What puts the “Charm” in Charm City? The Playwrights Group of Baltimore offers different short takes on the concept of “charm” in some serious and some comic ten-minute plays.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Two vegans run around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to solve a whale of a problem.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

It’s August 1955 in Amory, Mississippi, a time and place where the community is planning more than just sweet potato casserole, and their Momma’s fried chicken for Sunday lunch after church. With vengeance on their minds, and “Bless her heart!” on their lips, these Southern ladies have outlined plans to subtly trap those in their way to social ruin. Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories, The Cask of Amontillado and Hog Frog, The Chocolate Chess Pie of Amory follows two women who have been pushed too far. Written by a recent alumna of Georgetown University, this laugh-out-loud comedy is filled with satiric wit, heart, and gospel music. It suggests all these good Southern women need for revenge is to introduce the threat of scandal and to bake a delicious chocolate chess pie.

Recommended for ages 13+.

Garfield, a chubby and sarcastic tabby cat, fantasizes about having the most amazing birthday in the history of birthdays. He deserves it for being the best cat ever! But it seems that all his friends–Arlene, Odie, Jon, and even his nemesis, Nermal–have forgotten. Feeling rejected, Garfield ventures out to find adventure, but quickly learns that “home is where the heart…and the food is.”

Family friendly.

In a not-too-distant future, the Crimson Queen deftly rules Virago–forging political alliances, opening trade routes–and is ousted from her throne by a power hungry rival who imposes a reign of terror on the country. Scraping together a rebel force, the Crimson Queen vows to use all her feminine wiles to regain power, crush her enemies, and rule her country again.

Recommended for mature audiences.

During a career spanning more than 45 years, Walter Dean Myers wrote more than 100 books for children of all ages, including 2 Newbery Honor Books, 3 National Book Award Finalists, and 6 Coretta Scott King Award/Honor–winning books. In 2012, he was appointed the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, serving a two-year term in the position. This theatrical tribute to Mr. Myers combines music, dance, and spoken word with text from some of his most famous books, including excerpts from picture books like Harlem, We Are America, and Blues Journey to his gritty teen novel Monster and his memoir Bad Boy. This one-night-only celebration of Walter Dean Myers is a fitting tribute to a man who changed the face of young adult literature and touched so many with his eloquent and unflinching portrayal of young African American lives.

Family Friendly.

When middle-aged divorcee James and his teenage daughter Kat hear that James’s elderly father has suffered a fall, they swoop in to rescue him. James is sure that his father will now see sense and move to a “senior living community.” But Grandpa has no plans to move, as James soon discovers, because he’s happily shacked-up with his new girlfriend, Pearl. So what if she can’t always remember his name? She’s one hell of a kisser! A new comedy about the nature of responsibility, love, and the hurdles of caring for extremely grumpy people.

Recommended for ages 13 and up/Explicit Language.

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” –Elvis Presley. A cantankerous man in a wheelchair demands that an irascible dance instructor, struggling to find purpose in her life, teach him social dancing. Secrets, lies, and mistakes in the past always find a way to screw up the best of intentions.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

The company returns with its third program of edgy, short plays by founder Alan Sharpe, chronicling the lives, loves, and challenges of Black LGBTQ residents in our Nation’s Capital.

Recommended for mature audiences.

The company presents drama, comedy, and music by imprisoned playwrights.

Recommended for mature audiences.

After his last public meltdown, a formerly beloved movie star/director is holed up in a bungalow. No one knows where he is except his unlikely best friend (a still-beloved movie star/director) and two shady characters–who just might have stumbled onto their big break.

Recommended for mature audiences/Explicit Language.

The Gantry sisters managed to survive their strange, violent youth. But when they return home to be at their mother’s deathbed, they begin to unearth old crimes–ones that threaten to tear their family apart unless they figure out how to bury the bodies for good.

Recommended for Mature Audiences/Explicit Language.

Inspired by American sculptor Harriet Hosmer, an artist struggles to survive the male-dominated forces of art and religion to win the commission of a lifetime.

Recommended for mature audiences.

Several new works written by company members focused around the theme of heroism.

Recommended for mature audiences/Explicit Language.

This performance recognizes the eight Senior Division (grades 10–12) winners of the VSA Playwright Discovery Competition.

Excerpts of four scripts will be performed as staged readings.

The VSA Playwright Discovery Competition invites middle and high school students with and without disabilities to examine the disability experience and express their views through the art of script writing.

A Jean Kennedy Smith Arts and Disability Program.

A painter’s brush sets a young cherry blossom’s world into motion. Infused with whimsical dance, vibrant colors, and dynamic live music, join Blossom on her journey from the red mountains down to the indigo city in this new piece that celebrates Japanese culture featuring stunning choreography by Margot Greenlee and dynamic, live Taiko drumming by Mark H. Rooney.

Recommended for families with children ages 2 to 5.

Roberta and Larry always try to do the right thing–for their son (two and a half years into his engagement); for their marriage (never go to bed angry); and especially for their synagogue (which is always trying to build its membership–they’d be happy to tell you more). When they have the opportunity to help rescue a Holocaust Torah, they know they have to bring it to Temple Beth David. Partially inspired by the true story of Rabbi Menachem Youlus, the self-dubbed “Jewish Indiana Jones,” G- d’s Honest Truth asks how far we would go to believe a story that’s too good to be true as told with humor and pathos by the Helen Hayes Award^(r)–winning playwright and recent recipient of the 2014 Jewish Plays Project Award.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Bake-off playwrights are given a list of “ingredients”–people, places, things, ideas, etc.–that they must incorporate into their piece. These ingredients are sometimes given weeks in advance to allow the writers to outline and brainstorm, though sometimes playwrights only know their ingredients at the beginning of the 48-hour writing period. With such a short timetable to create their pieces, bake-off writers are encouraged to allow their instincts guide them through and are forced to ignore the nagging urge to rewrite as they go. After two days, the playwrights print out what they’ve got, in whatever form they’ve got, and the pieces are read.

Recommended for mature audiences.

In 1849, Charles Darwin is in a race against time. Over the objections of his wife, Emma, he has begun writing his book, On the Origin of Species. Charles knows that other scientists are working to publish similar theories and that his work will change scientific inquiry forever. Emma fears that God will smite them for challenging belief in the creation. When Annie, Darwin’s young daughter, suddenly contracts a serious illness but Charles continues his work, the rift between Emma and Charles grows. Will their marriage crumble? What is the nature of his daughter’s illness? Is this all God’s punishment or simply the natural order of things?

Family Friendly, recommended for ages 10 and up.

Abstract #23 is a dark, comedic satire that follows a lovesick and fame- obsessed artist who is bombarded with unprecedented adoration and opportunity after the successful reception of his latest art installation. As the pressures of his newfound celebrity consume him, the line between his art and reality disintegrates.

Recommended for mature audiences/Explicit Language.

Witches Vanish by Claudia Barnett, directed by Deborah Randall

In a series of stylized, highly visual vignettes employing puppetry, poetry, and surrealism, the weird sisters from Macbeth explore the stories of women who disappear, whether by choice or force. Inspired by history, astronomy, and Shakespeare,  and Witches Vanish examines the nature of change and the value of human life.

Recommended for mature audiences/Explicit Language.

In the sweetest story inspired by the most offensive joke ever told, the daughter of a traveling vaudeville family falls in love for the first time and quits the act.

TOAST by company members.

This will be the final “dress rehearsal” of dog and pony dc’s newest show TOAST, which appeared in an earlier stage at Page-to- Stage last year. TOAST is a participatory-performance- meets-science-fair that explores invention and discovery, the development of technology, and the intricate networks that weave us together.

Participatory Theater.

Recommended for ages 13 and up

Wagner and Levi written and directed by David L. McWellan.

Richard Wagner’s attempt to have conductor Hermann Levi, the son of a Rabbi, be baptized before Levi is allowed to conduct the opera Parsifal provokes a chain of events that almost leads to Wagner’s downfall. Can everyone be saved and redeemed? Parsifal the opera becomes Parsifal in real life.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Cosmetic Consciousness by Kristy Simmons*

A woman who works at a plastic surgery marketing company scrambles as the economy shrinks. Plastic surgery practices seek to stay afloat with marketing guile as a sudden, burgeoning “cosmic consciousness” sweeps the nation. This mysterious force wreaks mayhem on the practices and patients, but the owners of the marketing company would rather die than go under for a cosmic facelift. Our young employee may have just the nip and tuck for the final cosmic cure.

Recommended for Mature Audiences/Explicit Language.

The company tells the story of Billie Holiday through song.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Numerous pieces from the festival are presented.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Kidz at Play [FF] written and directed by Renee Charlow*

The company presents three short plays.

Family Friendly, recommended for families with children ages 5 to 12.

The Island of Dr. Moreau by Nathan Weinberger, directed by Paata Tsikurishvili.

The company showcases its training methods and pieces of its latest physical theater adaption of the horror classic, The Island of Dr. Moreau.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Galilee by Christine Evans*

Galilee takes place amidst the collision of competing economic and ecological forces in a small Australian coastal town on the Great Barrier Reef. As the sea temperatures rise and the world’s first hybrid blackfin sharks appear, biology student Carol, her entrepreneur mother Mardy, and the old-time diver Jimmy struggle with their own decisions–fight, flee, or adapt?

In to the Out Side/D.C. al Coda written and directed by John Sowalsky

The company presents an absurdist comedy somewhere between Beckett and the Marx Brothers.

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Sparks: Short Works by The Welders by Bob Bartlett, Renee Calarco*, Allyson Currin*, Caleen Sinette Jennings*, Gwydion Suilebhan

The company presents excerpts from several original works.

Recommended for ages 16 and up/Explicit Language.

It’s a Circus Out There written and directed by Kevin Finkelstein.

A didactic play that uses a modern-day circus as an allegory for the presidency, It’s a Circus Out There tells the story of Leila Blaze, the new CEO of the Bringling Brothers Circus.

Recommended for ages 13 and up/Fire Eater present.

The Theatre of the Soul by Nikolai Nikolaevich Evreinov, directed by Charlie AinsworthInside

A man’s heart, his rational and emotional selves desperately debate for the man’s life.

Recommended for ages 16 and up/Contains Nudity.

Agents of Azeroth by Jennifer Lane*, directed by Ryan Taylor.

As part of his massive leaks of classified material, Edward Snowden revealed that NSA and CIA agents were spending large amounts of time and resources investigating World of Warcraft, searching for potential terrorist threats among millions of trolls, elves, and orcs. Playwright Jennifer Lane and the Washington Rogues ask, “What’s up with that?!?” Agents of Azeroth is a satirical look at big important topics like the encroaching surveillance state, cyberbullying, and the mercurial nature of identity in the electronic age. It is also super, super geeky. “For country. For honor. For the Alliance!”

Recommended for Mature Audiences/Explicit Language.